Never worry about having a dry turkey breast ever again. Using the Instant Pot allows you to have a tender, juicy, show stopping turkey breast every time. See my recipe below for the fully instructions
Instant Pot Turkey Dinner | Stuffed Turkey Breast and Gravy
I love the all fall flavors and look forward to making turkey dinner several times a year. Let’s face it tough, cooking a turkey is usually a pretty big undertaking. What I love about this recipe for stuffed turkey breast, is that it doesn’t have to be hard or stressful. Using the Instant Pot to cook a turkey breast makes it always come out juicy and tender, and it cuts the time down to little over 40 mins.
While the turkey breast cooks away in the Instant Pot, all those lovely juices are captured and allows us to make a delicious easy gravy to pair with our bird and sides.
Pomegranate Walnut Chicken Stew
Ingredients
- 2-3 lbs chicken, legs or thighs (sub 1 can or 1 c soaked chickpeas)
- 1 large yellow onion (or 2 small ones)
- Sauce Ingredients
- 2 C walnuts, toasted
- 4 TBSP butter (sub olive oil)
- 1/2 C light red wine (like a Gamay, Pinot, or Grenache)
- 1 C pomegranate molasses 1/4 tsp cracked pepper 1/2 C cilantro, chopped
- 2 garlic cloves
- 1/2 tsp cinnamon
- 1 tsp turmeric
- 1 tsp cumin
- 2 C chicken broth or water
- 4 TBSP honey (sub maple syrup)
- Serve with:
- Saffron rice minced mint leaves
Instructions
- Step 1: Place 2 c walnuts on a baking sheet. Roast at 350 for 15-20 mins until slightly browned and fragrant. Once done, set aside to cool.
- Step 2: Slice onions into thin rings. Set aside. Melt the butter on low heat.
- N ow we are going to prepare the chicken and onions together. What we do next is a bit of a shortcut. T raditionally we would brown the chicken and fry the onions on the stove top. Instead of frying them in a pan we will broil them on a baking sheet. This does two things 1) gives us a beautiful brown crust on our chicken, and essentially fries the onions under the broiler while the juices from the chicken add extra flavor. This is much faster than doing it on the stove top. H owever you do have to watch it closely to make sure nothing burns.
- Step 3: Place chicken on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Pat the chicken skin dry. Liberally season with salt and spray the skin with cooking spray. This will help it brown in the oven. In the space left on the tray, lay out the onion slices and drizzle them with the melted butter. Use a fork to toss them if necessary to ensure they are well coated in butter.
- Step 4: Place the baking tray with the chicken and onions under the broiler on the top rack. Watch it carefully to make sure nothing burns. The chicken skin will start to brown. The pieces closest to the flame will brown first, so remove them as they are ready and set aside on a plate. Move the other pieces closer to the flame to allow them to brown. Toss the onions in the oil to and make sure they are browning evenly. Remove chicken and onions once they have sufficiently browned.
- N ote: P archment paper can catch fire under the broiler, so be careful to keep the paper trimmed within the baking tray. Once you start removing the chicken and more of the paper is exposed to the broiler heat, the paper may start to smoke and blacken. If this occurs, move the remaining chicken pieces and onions to a baking dish to finish browning.
- Step 5: Place the chicken and onions in the crock pot. Save any oil or liquid remaining on the baking tray and pour it in the crock pot with the chicken and onions. This will add more flavor to the dish.
- Now we will prepare the cooking liquid that the chicken will be cooked in.
- Step 6: Place the toasted walnuts and all the other sauce ingredients in a blender and puree until smooth. The sauce will be very thick. Pour this
- over the chicken in the crockpot. Add a little water to the blender cup, loosen the rest of the sauce, and add that to the crockpot as well.
- Step 7: Cook on high for 4-6 hours until the meat is falling off the bone. Stir intermittently while cooking to make sure nothing burns on the bottom of the insert. If the sauce is very thick, you may add some water to thin it slightly. It should be similar to the consistency of pancake batter.
- Step 8: When done, sprinkle with minced mint leaves and pomegranate seeds. Serve with saffron rice and an additional drizzle of honey.